Babylon speaks to the great mystery of iniquity that has existed throughout the age of man to the present day, culminating in its final destruction towards the end of the Great Tribulation period. It was, it is, and it is still to come. It is almost like how the great mystery of God is described in Revelations chapter 1:4 – “… from him which is, and which was, and which is to come…”. The main difference is that Babylon is a domain and has an end, while the Lord is God and has no end. He is the Eternal One Who lives forever. Most biblical scholars understand the Babylon from the past, and some understand part of the Babylon that is to come, but most do not, and have never understood, the Babylon that is here, now, during the Church Age. Babylon in all its forms symbolizes captivity. Hence it is commonly referred to as the Babylonian Captivity. From a time’s perspective, Babylon might be described this way:

  • The Babylon in the past was a physical captivity.
  • The Babylon in the present is a spiritual captivity.
  • The Babylon in the future is both a physical and spiritual captivity.

The focus here is on the spiritual Babylon that is working now during the Church Age.  Babylon’s roots go back to the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5-9), where mankind attempted to live without God’s direction. The Lord caused them to be confused and scattered the people.  Mankind in general is still confused, setting up their own religious systems replacing or corrupting  the true worship of God.  Any religion that emphasizes its own leaders over God is a false system subject to demonic influence.  It is a place of spiritual captivity caused by spiritual  confusion brought about as a judgment from God, though implemented through demonic spirits. This current Babylon signifies the captivity of the churches and occurred shortly after the apostolic period. The spectacular miracles and signs that accompanied the apostles disappeared when they slept as the church began the period of compromise with the world prophesied by the Apostles (2 Timothy 4:3). Teaching was based on what people wanted to hear rather than what the Holy Spirit wanted to teach. The doctrines of Christ became distorted through human reasoning becoming the doctrines of man, depriving believers of the Power of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit stirred a call from God in other places starting churches afresh, but these too would succumb to the world and learn the way of being friends with the world while proclaiming loyalty to God alone. And such has been the experience of the church in the world during the evil age: A strong start with the Help of the Holy Spirit and then a downward spiral as the Doctrines of Christ become watered down and made of no effect by the merging of the leaven of the doctrines of men energized by demonic spirits.

It is interesting to note that during the Great Tribulation period, when the spiritual and physical Babylon reigns, a call is made from God to His people living in Babylon:

Revelation 18:4 “Come out of her, my people, that you will not partake of the plagues.”

This implies that God’s children can be found within Babylon, yet not judged as apostates within that spiritual captivity system.  So it is today that believers can be found within Babylon-type churches that  promote varying forms of serious doctrinal errors.  And here is a bitter pill to swallow as we examine this spiritual captivity:

A spirit of error and the Holy Spirit exist within believers who are part of the captivity.

What a hard truth:  that a spirit of error could live in a believer who also has God’s Spirit living in them as well!  Again it only applies to believers who submit to other authorities who push lies against the Doctrines of God.

In the physical Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzer was the king. In the spiritual Babylon, Satan is the King. Physical Babylon has a physical captivity, Spiritual Babylon has a spiritual captivity. Key verses to understanding spiritual Babylon are the following:

Ephesians 6:12 KJV) “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV) “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”

The spiritual Babylon with which we Christians struggle against are those spiritual beings that influence men in high places of authority, whether it be in governments, administrations, or churches, yes churches. Without a doubt, being a bishop or pastor or leader or teacher in a church is a high place of authority. They are subject to the most pressure from the demonic forces of darkness, and having corrupted many of them, seek to harm the sheep of Christ’s pasture. Jesus said:

Luke 12:1-3 (KJV)”Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

The leaven is the false teachings of these spiritual leaders. Christians who hear and follow the voice of their Shepherd (John 10:27) are assured that they shall overcome these deceptions. Others are very susceptible to falling under their deceptive control. Many people in the churches today rely on the leaders for spiritual guidance and have little or no individual bible study. These people are the ones that are the most in danger.

Notice something else about the leaders in the churches. Most of them actively pursued these positions of authority. It tends to suggest that personal ambition had a lot to do with their motivation, not perhaps a real calling from God. It would seem that this would make them the least likely to succeed as a humble servant of the Lord since they sought to be first, not last. Perhaps Jesus had this in mind when He said:

Matthew 20:16 (KJV) “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”

I wonder how these leaders in the church feel about their relative position of glory when the kingdom of God appears. Would they humbly accept a last position then, thereby proving their worthiness? Or would they expect to have a much higher position since they already had that during their time on earth? And by doing so, reveal their evil motives. The mystery of the Mustard Seed parable (Matthew 13:31-32 NLT) speaks to this darkness in high places of authority within the churches:

“Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”

One take on this parable illustrates the spiritual Babylon that exists in the Church Age. The mustard seed normally grows into a large bush, a normal growth for a Spirit-born church. But this mustard seed mutates and grows into a large tree, so large that the birds of the air (demonic spirits with their false doctrines) find a welcoming environment because of the shade that the tree provides, i.e., the organizations within the church make it easy for false doctrine to not only be born but to endure. Birds are typically used in scripture to signify evil, just like leaven signifies evil.

This spiritual captivity is caused by 2 things in this order:

  1. Believers don’t want to endure sound doctrine anymore, but want an easy way out, and having itchy ears, they appoint leaders who tell them what they want to hear.
  2. Believers give a higher place of authority to church leaders than God.

With regard to the second reason for this captivity the scriptures say:

Romans 6:16 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

You put yourself under the influence of spirits to whom you submit.  If you submit to a church leader that has a spirit of error in him, that same spirit of error will be passed down on to you.  This is a judgment from God on those who trust in leaders in the church more than they trust in God!

Let me give a real life illustration of this spiritual captivity.  Calvinism is a type of spiritual captivity.  One of their major doctrines is Limited Atonement, where they state Christ only died for the ones that were saved, are being saved, and destined to be saved.  The truth is that Christ died for all sinners:

John 1:29 (ESV) “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

2 Corinthians 5:15 “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

1 John 2:2 ” And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

If you quote any of the above scriptures to a Calvinist, rather than address these scriptures, they will immediately go to another place in the Bible to defend their position.  My point is that the Word of God is very powerful, yet it didn’t move the Calvinist from his position.  Why?  It is because there is a “strong man” in the house of his captivity, that prevents the Word of God from having effect.  Jesus describes this strong man this way:

Luke 11: 21-22 “When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe. But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”

When anyone turns to, or back to,  the Lord by stop seeking the praise of man (leaders of the churches), Jesus will free him from the “strong man” that has hypnotized him through demonic seduction.  He effectively leaves the spiritual Babylon captivity.

A final note:

Only true believers can be led into this spiritual captivity.  Captivity does not apply to false teachers, apostates, and unconverted pagans who are “christian” in name only.

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